In 2014, The Guardian readers voted Newcastle best city-break destination. I had 24 hours in Newcastle to find out why, but with so much to explore, would 24 hours in Newcastle be enough?
Author Archives: Solange Berchemin
24 hours in Newcastle
01/05/2016 .The Adonis Hotel Singapore
25/03/2016 .
When asked “What is….exactly….a boutique hotel?” my heart sinks.
I could recite the Oxford dictionary definition, without hesitations: “It’s a stylish small hotel, didah, didah, didah…..” But my true answer is “I don’t know”. Really, I don’t but unfailingly I’ll recognize one, when I’ll see one. In my opinion, half the hotels claiming being Boutique, just aren’t. Yes, they might well be small or located in a fashionable area or even both but that doesn’t win them the title.
The Adonis Hotel Singapore is.
L’ HOTEL DU CHATEAU
26/01/2016 .
In the early Noughties, the French hotel business saw some drastic changes. Suddenly, a generation of hotel managers perpetuating a service along the lines: “my way or the high way”, in rustic accommodations, for lack of a better word, were being sidelined by young entrepreneurs attentive to their customers’ demands and more than willing invest time and money to restore old and tired hotels to exquisite standards.L’Hotel du Chateau, situated right below la Porte de Narbonne, the main entrance to the walled city of Carcassonne, is a perfect example of what happened back then.
The Gallivant Hotel
01/09/2015 .
It was 5.00pm and I was interviewing Mark O’Reilly, manager of The Gallivant Hotel when he stopped in mid sentence to point enthusiastically at a white van pulling up in the car-park. “This is the fish for tonight, it was caught this morning”, he said. As I raised an eyebrow, Mark continued, “Our philosophy is simple, 95% of all the fresh ingredients we use in the kitchen come from fishermen and farmers who live and work within 10 miles of us”.
The Canadian. A great train Journey of the World
17/07/2015 .
The Canadian is one of the most spectacular train journeys in the world: 4,467km (2,792-mile) across Canada. Four nights, three days gazing at dense boreal forests, magnificent plains and the legendary Canadian Rockies. The steel train crosses over five Canadian states and four time zones.
Caledonian Sleeper. Glasgow to London.
28/04/2015 .
It’s all change for the Caledonian Sleeper that connects London Euston overnight with five Scottish termini: Edinburgh, Glasgow for the lowland sleeper and Fort William, Aberdeen, Inverness for the Highland sleeper.
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